Sixteen new faculty join UIS

August 30, 2004

SPRINGFIELD - Sixteen new faculty members have joined the
University of Illinois at Springfield for the 2004 fall semester. Nine
will teach in programs within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
which also has a new dean. One will teach in the College of Public
Affairs and Administration, two in the College of Business and
Management, and three in the College of Education and Human Services.

Nathaniel Anderson, a visiting assistant professor in the
Educational Leadership program, comes to UIS from six years as
superintendent of East St. Louis School District 189. He previously served
as a counselor, teacher, and assistant coach at MacArthur High School in
Decatur; was dean of students at Stephen Decatur High School; principal of
Cairo High School and Dwight Eisenhower High School, Decatur; and principal
and assistant superintendent of Rock Island & Milan District 41. A standout
football player at Eastern Illinois University during the early 70s,
Anderson played professional football for the Washington Redskins in 1974.
He is presently serving as chair of the EIU Board of Trustees. He earned
his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in recreation and education,
respectively, from EIU; his specialist degree in education from Southeast
Missouri State University; and his doctorate in educational administration
from Illinois State University.

John Barker, assistant professor of Philosophy, was
previously a lecturer and teaching assistant at Princeton University and a
lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh. His areas of specialization
include the philosophy of language, logic, and metaphysics. Barker earned
the B.A. in philosophy, cum laude, from Yale University and the M.A. and
Ph.D. from Princeton.

Thomas Bartl is instructor/director of Forensics and Oral
Communication. Before coming to UIS he was assistant director of forensics
in the Honors College and a teaching assistant in the Department of
Communication at the University of Oklahoma. He is active in the National
Communication Association and has presented several papers at the
organization’s national conventions. His areas of teaching range from
principles of communication and public speaking to communication research
design and political debates. Bartl earned the B.A. in speech and theater
arts at Winona State University, Minnesota; the M.A. in communication,
theater, and education at South Dakota State University; and the Ph.D. at
the University of Oklahoma.

Jeffrey Blodgett, associate professor of Business
Administration, comes to UIS from the University of Mississippi, where he
was associate professor of marketing in the School of Business
Administration. His teaching interests focus on various aspects of marketing
and retail as well as e-commerce and consumer behavior. His main areas of
research include consumer complaining behavior and perceived justice, the
effect of physical surroundings on consumer satisfaction, and cultural
values and their effect on consumer behavior. His professional activities
include serving as a reviewer for the Journal of Satisfaction,
Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior. Blodgett earned the B.S. in
finance, investment, and banking at the University of Illinois; the M.B.A.
in marketing at Illinois State University; and the Ph.D. in marketing and
organizational behavior at Indiana University.

Sviatoslav Braynov, assistant professor of Computer
Science, comes to UIS from the State University of New York at Buffalo,
where he was an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science
and Engineering. Previously he was a research associate in the Department of
Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis and assistant
professor at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria. His
teaching and research are focused on topics of e-commerce and security and
artificial intelligence. He is widely published in professional journals and
other refereed publications and has made presentations at a number of
conferences in this country and abroad. Braynov earned the M.S. in
mathematics and computer science at the University of Sofia, pursued
graduate studies in economics at the University of Delaware, and earned the
Ph.D. in computer science at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

Keith Burton is assistant professor of Psychology. Before
coming to UIS he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology
at the University of Arizona, Tucson, where his duties included implementing
grants, recruiting subjects, constructing experiments, and analyzing
statistics. Before that, he served an internship in psychology with the
university’s Medical Center, where he was responsible for conducting
neuropsychological evaluations of adult and pediatric patients and
assessments and neuropsychological screenings of organ transplant
candidates. He has also served as a research assistant in the Neuroscience
Institute atRush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical
Center in Chicago. Burton earned the B.A. at Northwestern University and
the M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona.

Margot Duley is the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences and a professor of History and Women’s Studies. Duley comes to
UIS from Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, where she had been interim
associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the
Women’s Studies program. She earned the B.A. in history and biology at
Memorial University of Newfoundland, the M.A. in South Asian history at Duke
University, and the Ph.D. in South Asian and British imperial history from
the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Jennifer Herring, visiting assistant professor in online
education in the Teacher Education program, was previously adjunct professor
and student teacher supervisor at the University of North Texas. Her 14
years as an educator at the middle and high school and university levels
focused on educational technology and curriculum design. She is a member of
the American Educational Research Association and the National Association
for Multicultural Education. Herring earned the B.S. in computer science,
the M.Ed. in secondary education, and the Ph.D. in curriculum and
instruction and educational administration, all from the University of North
Texas.

Kamau Kemayo, assistant professor of African-American
Studies, comes to UIS from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia,
where he was assistant professor of English and special program writing
instructor with the African-American Male Academy. He previously served as
assistant professor of African-American studies at Western Illinois
University and also taught at Harris-Stowe State Teachers College, St. Louis
University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz and Los Angeles.
Kemayo’s teaching interests have focused on major black writers,
psychological perspectives of African-American literature, and the
psychology of race and education. He earned the B.A. in psychology and
African and Afro-American studies from Stanford University, the M.A. in
Afro-American studies from UCLA, and the Ph.D. in American studies from St.
Louis University.

Lionel Kimble is assistant professor of African-American
Studies. He comes to UIS from Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, where
he was visiting assistant professor of history. He was previously assistant
to the director of the African-American Cultural Center at the University of
Illinois at Chicago and he has taught at Richard Daley College and Robert
Morris College, both in Chicago, and at the
University of Iowa. Kimble’s teaching and research fields include U.S.,
African-American, and American social history, as well as 19th century
European social and intellectual history. His professional affiliations
include the Organization of American Historians, American Historical
Association, and the Labor and Working Class History Association. He earned
the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D., all in history, at the University of Iowa.

Amy McEuen, assistant professor of Biology, was previously
visiting assistant professor and post-doctoral research fellow in the
Biology Department at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where
she taught courses in field sampling and experimental design. Her areas of
specialization include forest and landscape ecology, biometrics, ecological
sustainability, and conservation biology. She earned the B.A. in
biochemistry and humanities from the University of California, Berkeley, and
the M.S. in wildlife ecology and the Ph.D. in forest ecology and
conservation biology from the University of Michigan.

Cindy Nimchuk is assistant professor of History. She comes
to UIS from Stanford University, where she was a teaching fellow in
humanities focusing on ancient empires and a co-instructor in the Special
Languages Program focusing on Old Persian language and history. Her research
interests include ancient civilizations and cultures, especially in the
Middle and Near East, and she has worked as site supervisor at an
archaeological excavation in Turkey. Her language facilities include
Akkadian, Greek, Latin, Old Persian, and Aramaic. She earned the B.A. in
Latin and classical history and archaeology from the University of Calgary,
the M.A. in classical studies from the University of Ottawa, and the
doctorate in ancient studies from the University of Toronto.

Dennis Rendleman, assistant professor of Legal Studies and
director of the UIS Pre-Law Center, previously served as the center’s
interim director and taught Legal Studies courses at UIS part-time for
several years. Formerly general counsel for the Illinois State Bar
Association, Rendleman was appointed to a three-year term on the Illinois
Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibility (expiring in
December 2006) and also serves on the Illinois Judges Association/Illinois
State Bar Association/Chicago Bar Association Illinois Judicial Ethics
Committee. He earned both the bachelor of arts in political science and the
J.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Michael Searcy is assistant professor of Communication. He
comes to UIS from the University of Iowa, where he was an affiliated
researcher at the Community Based Resource Center, funded by the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, as well as a teaching
assistant and adjunct instructor. Searcy has also taught at Monmouth
College, Kaplan College, and St. Ambrose University. He also has extensive
experience in sales and marketing. His teaching and research interests
include rhetoric and public speaking, nonverbal communication, and research
methods. His professional memberships include the National Communication
Association, International Association for Relationship Researchers, and the
American Society of Trial Consultants. Searcy earned the B.A. in English and
M.A.R. in Communication from St. Louis University, and the M.A. and Ph.D. in
Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.

Michael Small, associate professor of Business
Administration, was an associate professor of decision sciences at Florida
Gulf Coast University before returning to UIS, where he had previously been
a member of the Business Administration faculty from 2000 to 2002. He has
also taught at the University of New Haven College of Business, East
Tennessee State University College of Business, and Cleveland State
University College of Business. Small served as chief budget analyst to the
Ministry of Finance, Government of Barbados, and was a management consultant
to the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity. His teaching
interests include operations and technology management, decision sciences,
and project management and statistics. His research interests focus on
managing manufacturing and information technology projects, benchmarking,
quality management, and production and service operations management. Small
earned the B.A. in economics at the University of the West Indies; the
M.B.A. at Howard University, Washington, DC; and the D.B.A. in production
and operations management at Cleveland State University.

David Turner, visiting assistant professor in the
Educational Leadership program, recently completed 11 years as executive
director of the Illinois Principals Association. During his nearly 20 years
as a classroom teacher and school administrator he taught science, biology,
and chemistry at several Illinois high schools and served as principal at
Morrison High Schooland PORTA High School in
Petersburg. He has also been an adjunct professor at Illinois State
University and at UIS. Turner earned the B.S. in education from Eastern
Illinois University, and the M.S. and Ed.D. from ISU.

The University of Illinois at Springfield, one of
three U of I campuses, is a small, public liberal arts university that
offers
40 degree programs – 20
bachelor’s, 19 master’s, and the Doctorate of Public Administration.
UIS has a special mission in public affairs and service and is known for
extraordinary internships, a wireless campus, extensive online offerings,
and a commitment to teaching.